5 comments:

Not much of a Romney supporter, but I'll take a cut here: fearing the debates (as a conservative), looking forward to them as an unabashed fan of the public-sphere-as-a-circus.

Surprising no one has made this connection, but the way Romney is bumbling through this campaign, we're facing a debate trifecta from Romney that for sheer, baffling inexplicability will be remembered as

Upon further review, I fully retract the above as being obviously stupid. Gore's bonkers schizophrenia across debates is a category killer; no one will ever replicate it because Gore's example is too salient. What's more, Romney is fairly decent at debating, if only for surviving 831,204 Republican primary debates.

So Romney will be fine. The liberal commentariat will hate whatever face he settles on; the debates will otherwise likely have no impact on the larger election.

I am cool to anyone talking like a neocon. I think Romney should be nervous because he has been through multiple debates courting supply siders and neocons. It will not be easy to appeal to the median voter without contradicting statements made in prior debates.

Very much looking forward to it. Since Romney is now down roughly 4 points in the polling average, he doesn't have much to lose. Either he performs very well in the debates, which is quite possible, as he did well in most of the Republican primary debates, or the election is likely a lost cause for him. If the campaign just keeps drifting as it is, he is a likely loser, so anything that gives him the opportunity to shake things up a bit is good for him.